DFW All-Time Top 10 Teams (And a Surprise No. 1)

Comparing The Dallas Cowboys: DFW All-Time Top 10 Teams (And a Surprise No. 1)

FRISCO - We’re quick these days to debate, label and beat our chests about greatness and G.O.A.T.s. But truth is, it’s been almost a decade since Dallas-Fort Worth sports fans cheered anything north of garden-variety "good.''

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t been great for a quarter-century. The Dallas Stars are 0-for-this-millennium. ’Twas nine years ago all the sudden since the Dallas Mavericks’ one-and-done. That same season, the Texas Rangers were almost great.

Twice.

With COVID-19 pausing our passion and providing more than ample time to reflect on the players, teams and games we miss, seems the perfect timeout to remember what “great” actually felt like.

When 2020 froze in time on March 11, the Mavs and Stars were headed for their postseasons as middle-of-the-road seeds, the Rangers’ best prospect was their new ballpark and the Cowboys were finding alternatives to paying Top 5 money to their Top 15 quarterback. Nothing, in other words, was pressing enough to make us think DFW would be treated to anything truly great – as in championship – until 2021. Or beyond.

My coronavirus crusade – admittedly very subjective – is to rummage through our glory days and identify the best of our best. Yes, DFW’s All-Time Greatest Sports Team.

It’s a task that is simultaneously exhilarating and, of course, wholly impossible.

Because to do a comprehensive deep dive into true “greatness,” we’d have to identify and analyze every championship team. I mean, the Dallas Sidekicks won a Major Indoor Soccer League championship – complete with a parade around Reunion Arena – in 1987. Highland Park High School’s tennis team won 174 consecutive matches from 2008-15. UT-Dallas’ 2008 chess team went undefeated, winning its state, region and national championships. And I’m sure there have been some pretty salty slow-pitch softball, flag football and club volleyball teams that, though successfully spotless, are destined to remain legendary only in their small social circles.

Sorry, but this project’s committee – me, myself and I – has the manpower and oversight to only consider sanctioned, visible champions. The criteria are straightforward: Candidates must have won their biggest championship and been dominant in doing so.

This immediately disqualifies teams that touched just the tip of greatness.

Like Dallas Carter High School’s 1988 football team that went 14-0-1 and had 21 players receive college scholarships, only to be stripped of its state title because of a grade-fixing scandal. I covered Carter’s 14-9 semifinal victory over Odessa Permian in a driving rainstorm in Austin, and to this day it’s one of the most intimidating and talented teams I’ve ever written about. Alas, no championship, no “greatness.”

Same for Duncanville High School’s 2018 football team, which outscored its first 13 opponents, 667-61, thumped state heritage programs Southlake Carroll and Allen in the playoffs and then … lost to Galena Park North Shore on a 50-yard Hail Mary on the final play of the state championship game.

Ditto for SMU’s 1982 football team that went 11-0-1 (settling for a tie with Arkansas when it missed a field goal on the game’s last play) behind Eric Dickerson and Craig James, but dropped to No. 2 in the final rankings because of an underwhelming 7-3 win over Dan Marino and No. 6 Pitt in a freezing Cotton Bowl.

And same for Clayton Kershaw’s Highland Park baseball team in 2006, Kerry Wood’s Grand Prairie baseball team in 1995, Todd Van Poppel’s Arlington Martin baseball team in 1990 and, of course, the Rangers in 2010 and 2011, falling short – excruciatingly so – in Game 6 of the World Series at Busch Stadium. The Rangers’ 2011 squad – powered by Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz and Neftali Feliz – beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 3 games to 1, the Detroit Tigers, 4-2, and came within one strike of beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2.

But it’s not just the almost champs that are excluded from our ultra-exclusive list. Also some champs.

SMU won its only football national title in 1935, beating Sammy Baugh and TCU en route to an undefeated season. In the Rose Bowl, the Mustangs lost to the Stanford Indians, 7-0, but were somehow still awarded the championship via some antiquated voting metric called the Dickinson System. Three of the Cowboys’ five title teams didn’t crack our list: the 1995 squad that needed two Larry Brown interceptions to survive the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 30, the 1993 team that started 0-2 and won its three playoff games by only 10, 17 and 17 points, and the 1971 team that featured six future Hall of Famers and allowed just one touchdown in three post-season games. Fort Worth Dunbar High School legendary coach Robert Hughes finally brought Stop Six its first state title in 1993, but that team lost four games.

Yes, our bar is set that high.

Pull up a barstool and let the rating and debating commence. The Top 10 All-Time Greatest Sports Teams in DFW:

10. Dallas Stars, 1999 – With Mike Modano’s offense, Ed Belfour’s goaltending, Derian Hatcher’s grit and Brett Hull’s early-morning doorstep sniping in Buffalo, the Stars lifted their only Stanley Cup. Though their desire and effort remain unprecedented, they were pushed to 6, 7 and 6 games in their final three playoff series.

9. TCU Football, 1938 – After graduating Sammy Baugh in 1936, head coach Dutch Meyer designed a futuristic offense based on the forward pass and a team strategy centered on a 152-pound dynamo named Davey O’Brien. 

The Horned Frogs went 11-0, outscoring opponents, 269-60, and trailing just once all season, 7-6, in the Sugar Bowl national championship game. In that game against Carnegie Tech, O’Brien rallied TCU for a 15-7 win by throwing two touchdowns, kicking a field goal and sealing the title with an interception.

8. Dallas Mavericks, 2011 – Though they won only 57 regular-season games and finished second in their division behind the San Antonio Spurs, the Mavs and Dirk Nowitzki produced one of the most remarkable runs in NBA playoff history. 

They went 16-5 in the postseason, along the way eliminating the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

7. Allen High School Football, 2013 – Before he won the Heisman Trophy and became the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, Kyler Murray was torching defenses across Texas. Led by their quarterback’s mind-boggling 5,000 yards and 64 touchdowns, the Eagles went 16-0, averaged 50 points per game and blasted Pearland, 63-28, in the state championship game.

6. Dallas Cowboys, 1992 – Led by the NFL’s No. 1 defense and an offense fueled by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin, the Cowboys went 16-3, including two losses by a field goal. 

In the playoffs they outscored their three opponents by a combined, 116-47, and cruised to Super Bowl 27 by 35 points over the Buffalo Bills.

5. Argyle High School Baseball, 2018 – Launching a historic two year-run, the Eagles went 37-0 in a dominant season in which they pitched 20 shutouts, won 33 games by 2+ runs, waltzed to the state title and finished No. 1 in national rankings. Led by seven Division I scholarship players including Dillon Carter (now at Texas Tech) and Preston King (now at Texas-Rio Grande Valley), Argyle went 77-1-1 from 2018-19.

4. Southlake Carroll High School Football, 2005 – Innovative head coach Todd Dodge was a catalyst for today’s pass-happy offenses, implementing an unstoppable, high-paced unit that powered the Dragons to a 16-0 record, state title and No. 1 national ranking. In the midst of a 49-game winning streak, quarterback Greg McElroy and running back Tre Newton led an offense that averaged 48 points and won every game by 10-plus points. Just for fun, the defense threw in four shutouts. Carroll manhandled previously undefeated teams in its last three playoff games.

3. Duncanville High School Girls Basketball, 2016 – Difficult to pinpoint the best Pantherettes team, considering they have 11 state titles and five undefeated seasons. But this squad coached by Cathy Self-Morgan was overwhelmingly superior. Led by Zarielle Green and McDonald’s All-American Ciera Johnson, Duncanville went 39-0, all by at least nine points. At the state tournament Final Four they won by 40 and 34 points, and held a 33-9 halftime lead in the championship game against a team that entered with a 37-game winning streak.

2. Dallas Cowboys, 1977 – The best of America’s Teams, they featured NFL Offensive Player of the Year Roger Staubach, Defensive Player of the Year Harvey Martin, Rookie of the Year Tony Dorsett, 10 Pro Bowl players, six future Hall of Famers and the league’s No. 1 offense and defense. 

The Cowboys went 15-2 and smothered three opponents in the postseason by a combined, 87-23, including a 17-point win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 12.

1. Dallas Lincoln High School Boys Basketball, 2002 – Before he was winning multiple championships in the NBA, Chris Bosh was leading the most impressive team in DFW sports history. 

Powered by Bosh’s inside scoring and the playmaking of co-McDonald’s All-American Bryan Hopkins, the Tigers cruised to a 40-0 season and Texas’ Class 4A state title. The team’s top six players – including Bosh (Georgia Tech), Hopkins (SMU), Kevis Shipman (Baylor) and Byron Eaton (Oklahoma State) – received Division I scholarships. 

What sets them apart, however, is not only the way they won, but whom they beat. Lincoln won every game by 12+ points and routed its six playoff opponents by an average of 26. Along the way, Bosh and friends beat top 5A teams Cedar Hill (led by McDonald’s All-American and future Michigan star Daniel Horton) and The Colony (featuring future NBA All-Star Deron Williams and future Indiana star Bracey Wright), and in the state title game applied a 20-point bruising on defending champion Beaumont Ozen and its future NBA star, Kendrick Perkins. Despite not playing in Texas’ largest classification, Lincoln finished the season ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation by both USA Today and PrepHoops.com.